Crazy Stories in American Higher Education

This has been a difficult year in American higher education. Tuition is soaring, endowments are shrinking, and horrid crimes have shaken campuses from coast to coast.

But along with the grim news, some really funny things have happened too. Let’s take a look at some recent howlers from the world of higher education.

Student Lies His Way into Harvard by Claiming He Is Fluent in Ancient Armenian

A nice-looking young man named Adam Wheeler has been accused of defrauding Harvard of scholarship dollars. He got into that Ivy League university by claiming he had obtained a perfect SAT score (he didn’t), by claiming he had attended Phillips Andover and MIT (he didn’t), and that he was a scholar of ancient Armenian, among other things. After Harvard kicked him out, he tried to lie his way into Yale, which smelled a rat and called his parents, who turned him in to authorities.

Columbia University Valedictorian Steals His Grad Speech from YouTube

Brian Corman, a valedictorian at Columbia, gave a great graduation speech. The only problem was, it was a little too great. Turns out he had lifted a lot of it from a comedy routine that he had found on YouTube. It didn’t take long for people to realize the theft and call him out. Moral of the story? If you steal stuff from YouTube, somebody is probably going to notice.

Yale's Skull and Bones Used a Human Skull as a Ballot Box

Turns out that at some time during its long history, this Yale society had members place their votes inside a human skull that was fitted with a little lid on the top. Last January the skull appeared briefly as an item to be sold at an auction in New York. But it was mysteriously withdrawn before the auction took place.